Thursday, May 30, 2002

So, last weekend, teen sex was the talk of the blogsphere, after Glenn
Reynolds decided that it wasn't an
issue, since teenage humans have been having sex since the dawn of
the species, but he was going to write about it anyway. Such is the
man's power that I now find myself sucked into his vortex.

As a noted Europhile, let me note that European countries
somehow seem to have similar levels of teen sexual activity with much,
much lower levels of pregnancy and sexually transmitted
disease. Whether that's replicable in the U.S., or whether we'd even
want to replicate their approach in the U.S., is a separate question,
but it indicates that the connection between teen sex and undesirable
consequences isn't set in stone.

What might the Europeans be doing differently? Well, for one
thing, they acknowledge that some of their kids will screw around, and
educate them about the dangers and how to avoid them. As opposed to
the United States, where the pre-enlightenment values prevailing in
much of the country demand that schools avoid straight talk about sex,
in favor of heavy-handed and unrealistic demands for abstinence, or
saying nothing at all, and letting the kids figure it all out for
themselves...